Managing Creativity in Advertising and IBP

1. Managing Creativity inAdvertising and IBP 9 1 ©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

2. Why Does Advertising Needs Creativity? • Advertising is plagued by ad clutter. • Brands, especially mature brands like Burger King, become boring and irrelevant. • Great creativity breaks through the boredom and makes brands relevant. • Great advertising can help create great brands which make an emotional connection with consumers. 9

3. Creativity Across Domains • Creativity is a gift, a way of seeing the world, and crosses domains from music to art to poetry to advertising. • Creativity is the ability to bring together inconsistent elements and make connections. • Mozart, DaVinci, Keats, Ogilvy? • Creatives are self confident, unconventional, and show total commitment to their craft. 9

4. Can One Become Creative? A very big question . . . • Is creativity an end result? Or a way of thinking? • Public acceptance of a person’s work is not always a good measure of creativity. • The main point is that in advertising—we cannot do without creativity. 9

5. Creativity: Against Stereotypes • Because someone is in a “creative” position does not mean they are creative. • Conversely the “suits” are not necessarily uninspired. • Tension and conflict are common in advertising—the suits versus the creatives. 9

6. Agencies, Clients, and the Creative Process Oil and water . . . • Conflict and tension in the creative/management interface • Advertising is a social process of struggle for control • Also conflict “within” agency process • Clients often do not recognize they are “killing” the ideas they claim they wanted • Account Executives are the liaison between agency and client • Proper structure needs to be in place to overcome conflict and let the creative talent come through 9

7. Assuring Poor Creative • Treat your audience like a statistic • Make your strategy a hodgepodge • More than one dominant message is confusing creative • Have no philosophy • Good creative needs a consistent vision • Analyze your creative effort as youwould a research report 9

8. …Assuring Poor Creative (con’t) • Make the creative process“professional” • A sure route to drab and boring • Say one thing and do another • Give your client a candy store • A sure way to produce a creative “mess” • Mix and match your campaigns 9

9. …Assuring Poor Creative (con’t) • Fix it in production • Bad creativity can’t be fixed with technology or camera angles • Blame the creatives for bad creativity • Let your people imitate • Believe post-testing when you get a good score 9

10. Making Beautiful Music Together: Coordination, Collaboration, and Creativity Executing IBP is like a Symphony . . . • Many individuals make unique contributions to the whole. • A “maestro” (the creative director) brings it all together. • The “warm-up” of a symphony sounds disjointed and random. • Musicians focus on “sheet music” much like an ad plan. • The situation is just like a symphony with many players having distinct jobs. • Collaboration and coordination is required through teams. 9

11. What We Know About Teams • Teams Rule—Most challenges are beyond the scope of any one individual. • Performance—Research shows teams are effective when leaders are clear that the team is accountable for performance results. • Synergy through Teams—Blending talent through teams creates synergies. • Individualism—Effective teams find ways to let individuals excel within the team structure. • Teams Promote Personal Growth—Team members learn from each other. 9

12. What We Know About Teams (con’t) • Leadership in Teams • Leader’s first job is to build consensus • The leader ensures the work of the team isconsistent with the plan • Leaders must also do “real work” with the team and contribute • Direct Applications to the Account Team • The account team can be envisioned as a bicycle wheel with the leader as the hub • Spokes come from direct marketing, PR, creative, graphics, digital/interactive etc. 9

13. What We Know About Teams (con’t) • Fostering Collaboration through the Creative Brief • The creative brief is a document that sets up the goal for the advertising IBP effort and getseveryone moving in the same direction. • The creative brief does not mandate a solutionthough. • It can prevent conflicts • Teams Liberate Decision Making • The right combination of talent, with a leader and a creative brief can result in breakthrough decisions • Teams with members that trust one another are liberated to be more creative 9

14. Igniting Creativity Through Teams • Teams come up with better ideas than individuals. • Just the right amount of “tension” can have a positive effect. • Cognitive Styles: • The right brain/left brain metaphor reminds us that people approach problems differently. • Cognitive style is the unique preferences of individuals to approaching problems. • Creative Abrasion —The clash of ideas from which newideas and breakthrough solutions can evolve. • Interpersonal Abrasion —The clash of people which shuts down communication and kills new ideas. • Leadership is needed to promote creative abrasion and limit interpersonal abrasion. 9

15. Eight Rules for BrilliantBrainstorming • Build off each other • Fear drives out creativity • Prime individuals before and after group sessions • Make it happen • It’s a skill • Embrace creative abrasion • Listen and learn • Follow the rules or you are not brainstorming 9

16. Final Thoughts on Teams and Creativity • Creativity is fostered through trust and open communication in teams • Both personal and team creativity are critical • The position of the creative director is critical as a creative and a manager 9